It is well known that women nursing a child, after breast feeding, may experience leakage of milk. Bras for nursing mothers may be provided with an absorbent pad to be placed within the cup to cover the nipple and to absorb the discharge. Examples of prior art nursing bras include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,273 (Turner), U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,771 (Richards), U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,841 (Raimondo), U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,027 (Merkovsky), U.S. Pat. No. 2,767,402 (Pauk), U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,936 (Kemp-Dorsey), U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,034 (Zoeliner), U.S. Pat. No. 1,989,382 (Schnaittacher) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,628 (Sanchez).
The present invention solves many of the problems associated with prior art nursing bras. To mention a few, the embodiment here disclosed provides a removable and disposable absorbent pad that is inserted and held in a pocket formed on the inside of the bra while the bra is worn and while the bra cup has been lowered to expose the breast during feeding. It is not necessary to remove the pad from the bra during feeding avoiding loss or contamination of the pad. In addition, the pad is positioned in the pocket to cover an opening formed in the fabric that defines the inner member of the pocket to directly expose and contact the nipple of the breast with the absorbent pad; the opening is located off-center from the vertical axis passing through the center of the cup, toward the center of the bra.
The present invention comprises a nursing bra, and a method for making a nursing bra. The bra comprises two cups that receive and hold the breast of the woman. The two cups are attached at their adjoining edges. The opposite edges of the bra cups include torso straps that hold the bra in place in addition to shoulder straps in some embodiments. Each cup comprises a first flexible fabric member that covers the inner surface of the cup, conforms to the shape of the cup, and is secured along the peripheral edge of the cup; a second member secured to the cup along a portion of the periphery of the cup so as to define an entry to a pocket formed by the first and second members, the second member having an opening so as to expose the nipple of the breast, the opening being off-center from the vertical axis of the cup toward the center of the bra; and an absorbent pad of a size sufficient to cover the opening in the second member, the pad being removably inserted and held in position to cover the nipple and in contact therewith.